Amazon Launches Its Version of Paypal

This Sept. 28, 2011 file photo shows the Amazon logo on display at a news conference in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

(Newser)
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Amazon took a fresh swing at PayPal today by launching a new payment service that enables people to pay for bills and subscriptions, Reuters reports. More specifically, Amazon's 240 million active users will be able to use credit card data stored on the site to pay a phone bill, a digital music subscription, whatever—with Amazon exacting a transaction fee. Amazon has already challenged Ebay Inc's PayPal by allowing partner sites to offer a "Login and Pay with Amazon" option on their checkout screens, TechCrunch notes.

Other big players are interested too, with Google offering Google Wallet on certain Android phones, and wireless carriers joining forces to create the Isis mobile wallet app, CNNMoney reports. Apple and Facebook are likely closer to announcing mobile-payment apps of their own. Some analysts say Amazon was slow to launch because merchants are uneasy about giving customer information to the company, but Amazon said it will only collect transaction amounts. The move comes just ahead of a June 18 event where Jeff Bezos is expected to announce Amazon's 3D smartphone. (Read more Amazon stories.)

I am over Amazon anyway. Their shipping fees are getting so obtuse and misleading, that I just don't want to bother... Have also noticed lately that a lot of sub-par merchandise is getting unloaded on Amazon---like a digital thermometer that arrives with a dead battery.

TessTalks

Jun 9, 2014 8:52 PM CDT

Sorry, Amazon, I've been with PayPal since they started, and I'm staying with them..